c. 2008 Religion News Service
DENVER _ Democratic Party leaders are making an aggressive push for Catholic and evangelical voters, splashing attention on faith-focused ideas and gurus here at the Democratic National Convention.
“They recognize that the Catholic piece is critical to electoral success,” said Dr. Patrick Whelan, a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School and executive director of Catholic Democrats, which counts 4,000 members.
Whelan was one of several Catholics speaking at the convention’s interfaith gathering Sunday (Aug. 24), which also featured Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Catholic, and anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean.
In addition to the interfaith gathering, religious leaders are giving daily benedictions at the convention and meeting with “faith caucuses” to discuss the intersections of religion and policy.
On Tuesday, the convention hosted two faith caucus panel discussions, with the Rev. Jim Wallis, the best-selling author and evangelical leader of Washington-based Sojourners/Call to Renewal, prominent at both.
“For a long time the Democrats have been perceived as being secular and being even hostile to religion,” Wallis said.
Now,“there’s people of faith all over this convention; this is a very faith-friendly convention. I think the Democrats have really gone through an important change,” he said.
Democratic leaders say that change has come from the top. Barack Obama and party chairman Howard Dean have both prioritized faith outreach.
But Democrats’ support for abortion rights has been a sticking point for some Catholic and evangelical voters. And an August poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life showed that nearly 70 percent of evangelicals support Obama’s Republican rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain. Obama leads McCain among Catholics 47 to 42 percent, according to the poll.
Anti-abortion activist and Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry has protested here during the convention, and was arrested outside the convention center Tuesday. He said Obama’s selection of Sen. Joseph Biden, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, as his running mate would push religious voters towards the Republican ticket.
“It was like a gift from God for the pro-life movement,” Terry said as he broke from holding a large anti-abortion banner outside the convention center.
But progressive faith leaders here say most religious voters’ concerns have broadened from issues such as abortion and gay marriage and now include human trafficking, AIDS, poverty and the Iraq war.
“For a younger generation of believers, poverty is much more central to concerns of the faith,” Wallis said. “What we’re seeing here is a sea change in the agenda of the religious community.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said fellow Catholics are “giving a second look at the Democratic Party _ at least the best look in a long time.”
Whelan wishes a few more had looked Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry’s way in 2004.
“Ohio would’ve gone to Kerry in 2004 if Catholics had voted for him in the same proportion that they voted for Al Gore in 2000,” he said.
But the doctor hinted at a silver lining.
“There are are a whole raft of organizations like ours that have come into existence since 2004, and we have George Bush to thank for that,” Whelan said.
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File photos of Wallis are available via https://religionnews.com
